The Nature Files

You'll find all the pictures I take of nature here. The animal in the avatar is a Gulf Stone Crab.

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This spotted river stingray is in the Amazon exhibit at the Texas State Aquarium. I love stingrays, and this one is absolutely beautiful. Look at that eye staring into your soul to captivate you!

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These are poison dart frogs, a highly poisonous species. But did you know that poison dart frogs kept in captivity lose their toxicity? It is the frogs' diet in their natural habitats which makes them toxic.

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I don't know what species of anemone this is, but it sure looks pretty under the lighting.

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This is a Pencil Sea Urchin. Can you see why it's named that? The spines kind of look like pencils don't they? These sea urchins are in the touch tank and you are allowed to pick them up and hold them in your hand. If you focus on the urchin in your hand, you can feel the hundreds of sucker feet that it uses to move across the sand! The sea urchin's mouth is on the underside, so it moves on top of things to eat them.

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A seahorse in the bubble tank at the Texas State Aquarium. For all you mpreg fans out there, this is the real thing! The male seahorse carries the fertilized eggs in his pouch and when they are ready to emerge, his belly has contractions to release a cloud of babies into the world!

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What's that thing that looks like a ribbon next to those seahorses? It's a Smoky Pipefish! This tank has a bubble on the bottom which you can crawl under and stick your head in to get a 360° view of the tank. Near the top of the photo you can see the seahorses chilling out.

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This is a baby horseshoe crab they used to have in the Touch Tank exhibit at the Texas State Aquarium. You were only supposed to touch it, not try to pick it up, and I suppose they had problems with people not following the rules because I don't see the crab anymore. It looks old, almost prehistoric, right? Indeed, the horseshoe crab is quite old. It looks like it might have been around during the time of the dinosaurs! Did you know that the horseshoe crab has blue blood?

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Stingrays in the Shore exhibit. If you live in an area where stingrays populate your beach, don't forget to shuffle your feet in the sand to scare them away so you don't get stung! If you are stung by a stingray, don't try to remove it yourself. Go straight to the emergency room. A stingray barb has tiny barbs along the edge that point in the opposite direction, which gets it effectively stuck in your skin. The doctors will remove the barb in pieces to make sure all of it gets removed, they will disinfect the wound, and then probably give you some stitches. They'll probably also prescribe some antibiotics for you to prevent infection while the wound heals. Not fun at all, guys, so don't forget to do the Stingray Shuffle!

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This is a flounder in the Shore exhibit in the Texas State Aquarium. Flounders are born with an eye on either side of their head, but then the one eye migrates so both are on the top of the fish's body. This species of flounder is able to change colors to better match its surroundings. They bury themselves in the sand with only their eyes sticking up.

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This is a Rainbow Boa, one of the creatures you get to meet at the Texas State Aquarium during the scheduled animal encounters. It can be found in Central America (Costa Rica and Panama) and also in South America. This Rainbow Boa is a girl. The Rainbow Boa gets its name for the iridescence of its scales.

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The biggest stingray I've ever seen. This was the first time I'd visited the Texas State Aquarium with their new Stingray Bay exhibit.

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This is an adult female Southern Stingray at the Texas State Aquarium's Stingray Bay. This stingray's name was Big Bertha, and sadly, she passed away around spring last year. They can live as long as 8 years. This stingray's wingspan was about 4 feet and she weighed 110 pounds--that's as heavy as me! When she first came to the aquarium, she was only the size of a dinner plate! Southern Stingrays like to bury themselves in the sand to hide from predators, which makes it easy for people to miss them and step on them, and then get stung. So when you're in the water, do the Stingray Shuffle! When you shuffle your feet in the sand as you walk, it will scare the stingrays away. At Stingray Bay, you can pet the stingrays. All of the stingrays in the exhibit have their barbs cut off, so it's completely safe. Having their barbs cut off is the same as you and me when we clip our fingernails--it doesn't hurt. They will re-grow the barbs, so they make sure to keep them clipped. Big Bertha's fins felt smooth and slimy, and her back felt like slimy sandpaper. There was even a ridge along the middle of her back which felt like a spine, but stingrays have no spine. If the aquarium gets another Southern Stingray, will they try to grow another Big Bertha? Who knows, but I hope so! I had never seen a stingray as big as this one before!

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This is a jellyfish species called the Upside-Down Jellyfish. The caps are resting on the tank floor with the stinging tentacles facing up. When you are stung by a jellyfish, the tiny nematocysts become stuck in your skin and release the toxins which causes a sting. Use a credit card to scrape off the nematocysts and then pour vinegar on the affected area to relieve the sting. Why vinegar? I have no idea. You can also wear pantyhose which makes it harder for nematocysts to reach your skin.

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The Ornate Pac Man frog at the Amazon exhibit in the Texas State Aquarium. Pac Man frogs are aptly named after the video game character Pac Man because they will try to eat anything that moves that they can fit in their mouths. These frogs lie in wait partly buried in the dirt like this one, ready to grab unsuspecting prey and shove it in their mouths. Pac Man frogs can reach the size of dinner plates!